


Give Delight and Hurt Not

by meganbagels (Meganbagels)



Category: SHAKESPEARE William - Works, The Tempest (2010), The Tempest - Shakespeare
Genre: Enthusiastic Consent, F/M, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex, Post-Canon, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:01:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24991219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meganbagels/pseuds/meganbagels
Summary: Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban. Three strange beings tossed together by fate and intertwined by Prospero's unknowing hand. Three unatural siblings, drawn into one knot, breaking the bonds Prospero bound each of them in. The Island reclaims its children. Its children reclaim each other. You cannot bring the wild inside and tame it, for the wild untames everything it touches.
Relationships: Ariel/Miranda (The Tempest), Ariel/Prospero (implied), Caliban/Ariel, Caliban/Miranda
Kudos: 7





	Give Delight and Hurt Not

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unwittingcatalyst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwittingcatalyst/gifts).



> This story would never have existed without UnwittingCatalyst

The island buzzed in irritated curiosity. Ariel could feel it prickling on his skin and wondered if the other spirits were as restless as he felt. Prospero had freed him, it was true, but the island needed him a bit longer. The strangers walking on it would be tolerated, but only just.

Miranda had looked for him now and again, but he hadn't been ready to be found. Now, he could hear her singing followed by the light tread of her bare feet on the sand.. Ariel curled himself up against the rocks beside the pools, tickling crabs and watching the starfish grasping in search of mussels.

He flicked a breeze at her, throwing a thick lock of her hair into her eyes.

"Ariel?" She looked around

He allowed himself to haze into visibility, slowly becoming distinct from the rocks and water.

"The princess comes to the seaside. Surely the seaside should honor the princess and come to her." Ariel leapt to her side and gave a mocking bow.

Miranda stood squinting at the shine of light on the water "May that day never come. Some things we should have to work for, not have at our beck and call."

Ariel nodded sagely. "Wise words for someone who has been a princess but a few days."

She stretched out flat on the sand, watching the gulls swing overhead. "I won't say different in Naples."

Ariel folded down beside her and pulled her head into his lap, braiding and twisting her hair in silence. She could feel the direction of his tugs, winding her unruly hair into a crown.

"Will you miss us? Father and I?"

"You haven't left yet and already you want to be missed." He tsked.

Miranda wrinkled her nose. "Well, I will miss you. I think even my father will miss you. As long as I have known you, you have been father's."

Ariel smiled wanly. "Your father owned my labor and my love, but he could not have hoped to own me. I know he will miss me though."

"You loved him?"

Ariel weighed the words carefully, turning their bittersweet weight on his tongue. "More than I should have but less than he wanted."

Miranda laid a gentle hand on his wrist. "Do you love anyone, then?"

"Falling in love has made you very curious! You know the island well enough, do you think spirits fall in love?" Ariel pulled teasingly on a lock of hair. 

"What about Caliban?" Miranda asked quietly.

Ariel barked a laugh, the sound harsh like the bray of a seal. "I do not think what is between Caliban and I would ever be called love. That is far too soft a word."

Miranda smiled broadly up at him "Father always said, when you were being difficult, that you had learned wickedness from Caliban."

"Oh no, he learned it from me. Sycorax loathed us both for it. She could never punish her child as she punished me, but her fury washed over us both. Do you know he used to be much more beautiful? Her hate for what we had done crabbed him long before you and your father arrived."

"He's not so bad." Miranda said softly

"No, but he once looked like the darkest, freshest earth. His skin gleamed with it. Not the cracked dryness you see now."

"Maybe he’ll get better again. Once we’re gone."

Ariel dugs his fingers into the sand. "Nothing goes backward but the tide. Perhaps he will become something else."

"Do you think he loved you?"

"No, he too loved your father. He even loved you, I think." Ariel looked at her curiously. 

"When he - When Caliban touched me, I wasn't frightened. Not of his touch. I was struck with terror that he could go against my father's wishes. I hated him for disobeying when I could hardly imagine a world beyond the will of my father. To go against my Prospero meant Caliban’s strength was greater, and if that could be then nothing was certain."

Ariel nodded. "Caliban is strong, but we are ever thralls to Prospero. Even now with his sunken books and broken staff, I think we would answer his call."

"He is my father and I love him for all he has done and given me, but I don't see how you could do other but hate him."

"We do, but not as much as we love him. I do not think it can be explained to a mortal. He gives and we take, we give and he takes. The taking is too sweet to mind the giving."

Miranda sat up and looked intently at Ariel. "I want to give."

Ariel spoke, unmoved. "You want to be like your father."

"No! Never that. Ferdinand is kind and sweet but what he knows isn't right, well I suppose it is, for someone, perhaps, but not for me. All my life I grew up on the island with you and Caliban as my only playmates. I meant to be more like Ferdinand and I think he'd like to be more like me but I can't make him more like me when I am not even like myself yet."

Ariel slid down into a tide pool, blowing lazy bubbles in the clear water. "When you ask properly perhaps you will receive an answer."

Miranda threw a handful of sand at him. "You impertinent arse-wind, you know what I'm asking!"

Ariel grinned and made sounds like breaking wind. "I cannot hear you, princess, you must ask louder"

Miranda didn't want to laugh but Ariel's delight was catching, as it had always been, so she let herself collapse into it. When he made a long and musical break of wind and stopped, her laughter peaked and calmed to giggles. Catching her breath finally she asked "Would you teach me how to lay with Ferdinand, how to be myself and not a strange rag doll that lies there as he does what he must? He's miserable and I'm miserable and neither of us knows how to make this any better."

Ariel looked serious for a moment. "I wish you would stay. The island will be quiet without you."

"Perhaps my father will stay after all."

"He is not part of the island. He is the ruler of it."

"You and Caliban will rule it when we leave then."

"King and Queen of the island. Which will be which?"

Miranda tensed. "You won't fight for it, will you?"

Ariel grinned wildly. "We never fight for anything. We lay like snakes, twining, and biting until one of us gives up," he said as he slithered from the pool to kneel before her. Miranda felt her face go hot.

"Please, can you teach me to do that?"

"Not without Caliban. My consort should be at my side for this." Ariel said regally.

"This island isn't yours yet, you know. Maybe I'll stay here forever."

Ariel threw his head back in laughter. "Sweet princess, the island wouldn't be yours, you would belong to the island."

Miranda's brow set stubbornly. "You and Caliban try to claim me for the island and I will try to claim you for myself."

Ariel gave a thoughtful hum. "No, that will not do for our princess. You come to us and we will give and take, not lay claim."

"So you agree to teach me?"

"All that we know. You know the way out of your father's dwelling; Caliban will lead you the rest. When the moon is fully risen, go to the gate."

Miranda leaned forward and pressed her lips to Ariel's. They felt cool and damp with salt spray. Then they felt nothing. Ariel was gone.

Miranda stood and shook the sand from her shift. Airy fingers tucked hair behind her ear.

"Tonight. Do not fear, the others will all sleep sound until you return to them."


End file.
